Soule & Murphy: bird's eye view of campus

In 1950, Santa Barbara architecture firm Soule and Murphy developed a master plan for the campus. Initially, the college was to be a small liberal-arts college (with a maximum enrollment of 3500 students), not a large research university. The Soule and Murphy master plan shows a large semi-circle of buildings facing an amphitheater near the lagoon, with another wide plaza surrounded by buildings also facing south. In addition to these structures, there were recreational fields on the northern end of the mesa overlooking the airport, following an existing running track and adjacent road. Soule and Murphy took advantage of the oceanfront site by orienting the campus toward the ocean in a series of Beaux Arts-style quadrangles and plazas, which were to be surrounded by academic buildings.

Soule & Murphy, architects

University of California, Santa Barbara Campus Building records, Architecture and Design Collection. Art, Design & Architecture Museum; University of California, Santa Barbara.

circa 1950

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